Baltimore City liquor board gets a new chairman: 87-year-old former judge Thomas Ward

By Van Smith

Jun 25, 2014 | 11:27 AM

Thomas Ward's official portrait when he was a judge.

Former Baltimore City Circuit Court judge Thomas Ward, an 87-year-old who retired in the bench in 1997, after having served in the 1960s as a Baltimore City Councilman and in the 1950s as a Baltimore Sun reporter, has been named as the new chairman of the Baltimore City Liquor License Board, according to the board's executive secretary, Michelle Bailey-Hedgepeth. "Thomas Ward is going to be our new chair," explained Bailey-Hedgepeth, adding that "he'll be sworn in in the next day or two" by the clerk of the Baltimore City Circuit Court, Frank Conaway Sr. The appointment, Bailey-Hedgepeth said, was made by Gov. Martin O'Malley, and she got the official word in the form of a letter, received this morning. A call to Ward was not immediately returned. He'll take the seat vacated by Stephan Fogleman, who in March took an appointment as an associate judge at the Baltimore City Orphan's Court.